Attribute transfer between computer models including identifying isomorphic regions in polygonal meshes

ABSTRACT

A method for automatically transferring attributes between computer-generated models. The method includes storing in memory first and second models represented by polygonal meshes and storing a set of attributes for the first model. A processor operates or runs a compressed graph generator to process the first and second models to generate first and second compressed graphs that are compressed versions of the models. The method includes comparing topological connectivity of the first and second compressed graphs. When the connectivity is similar, the method includes transferring at least a portion of the attributes from the first model to the second model. The compressed graphs may be motorcycle graphs, skeleton graphs, or other forms of compressed graphs. The method includes determining a pair of vertices in the first compressed graph that match vertices in the second compressed graph for use as starting locations in comparing topological connectivity of the compressed graphs.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates, in general, to computer animation, and,more particularly, to systems and methods for allowing efficientproduction of computer generated (CG) or computer-animated images byaccurately determining similarities and differences between twoanimation models to enable transfer of attributes from one to anothermodel.

2. Relevant Background

Computer animation has become a standard component in the digitalproduction process for animated works such as animated films, televisionanimated shows, video games, and works that combine live action withanimation. The rapid growth in this type of animation has been madepossible by the significant advances in computer graphics software andhardware that is utilized by animators to create CG images. Producingcomputer animation generally involves modeling, rigging, animation, andrendering. First, the characters, elements, and environments used in thecomputer animations are modeled. Second, the modeled virtual actors andscene elements can be attached to the motion skeletons that are used toanimate them by techniques called rigging. Third, computer animationtechniques are performed ranging from key framing animation where startand end positions are specified for all objects in a sequence to motioncapture where all positions are fed to the objects directly from liveactors whose motions are being digitized. Fourth, computer rendering isperformed to visually represent the animated models with the aid of asimulated camera,

A model of a complex object or character may require hundreds orthousands of polygons to provide a desired level of detail in 3D space.In many applications, polygonal meshes such as quadrilateral meshes areused to provide these models or representations of 3D objects orcharacters. During animation processes, attributes are assigned to themodels, and the attributes such as shading, texturing, and otheranimation or rendering information may be assigned to the model based onan area or polygon-basis or associated with each vertex. To improveefficiency of the animation process, a model of an object may besimultaneously used by a number of departments to create a final modelfor use in rendering of a CG image or an animated scene. For example,the original model may be used by a shading department and a layoutdepartment concurrently while the model may also be undergoing riggingto allow the model to be moved or animated. As a result, a number ofmodels may be generated that each have differing attributes.

It is often desirable to later transfer attributes from one model toanother model such as transferring shading attributes for one model toanother model that has been rigged to a skeleton for motion.Unfortunately, attribute transfer algorithms are typically onlyeffective when the two models have similar shape or topologicalconnectivity (e.g., there are two basic approaches to attributetransfer, with one being based on the geometric shape of an object andthe other being based on the topological connectivity). Additionally,each of the departments or animators working on an original model mayhave introduced dissimilarities that cause the attribute transferalgorithm to fail or terminate without completing the transfer. Often,the transfer module will simply report back to the operator that the twomodels are not identical or the same without providing any indication ofwhere the difference was found. An animator may look at the two modelsand not be able to visualize the difference because the model may havehundreds or thousands of mesh faces or areas with just one differenceresulting in failure to transfer the attributes or renderinginformation. As a result, the animator may be forced to recreate a modelor to perform numerous manual steps that result in an animation projectbecoming very tedious or labor intensive and expensive. The need foridentifying similar models can be seen in many animation projects wheremany similar characters or objects are used in the same scene and it isdesirable to transfer attributes rapidly to the numerous copies, whichmay be in various positions but otherwise similar. The same object mayalso be modeled and used in numerous scenes of an animated work, and itis desirable to transfer attributes among models used in these varyingscenes even if one model has been worked on by numerous animationpersonnel or departments.

Hence, there is an ongoing need for computer-based methods and systemsfor determining whether two animation models that have been generatedand stored in memory are similar enough to enable attribute transfer tobe successfully completed. Further, it would be desirable for thecomputer-based methods and systems to be configured to output or reportareas of any identified differences or dissimilarities when two copiesof models do not match.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention addresses the above problems by providingattribute transfer methods and systems for use with computer generatedor animated models such as those represented with polygonal meshes suchas, but not limited to, quadrilateral meshes. The methods and systemsinclude algorithms or techniques for creating compressed graphs of themeshes including motorcycle graphs and skeleton graphs. The methods alsomay automate the identification of anchor vertices (or pairs of verticesthat match in each of two meshes or models), which in prior practiceswas a tedious manual process, and this anchor identification may includelabeling of vertices based on emanating edges, finding a unique label inone model/compressed graph, and then finding a match in the othermodel/compressed graph. The methods of the invention further includecomparing topological connectivity of two models, such as by using thecompressed graphs and starting at the identified anchor vertices.

When the comparison indicates similarity in connectivity, attributessuch as attributes associated with faces, edges, or vertices of apolygonal mesh (or data useful in rendering or the like) is transferredfrom one model (e.g., a source) to the other matching model (e.g., atarget). Interestingly, if the comparison indicates at least somedissimilarity or mismatch in connectivity, the methods described hereinmay include performing an approximate topological matching to identifyregions or areas of the two models that do match or have similarconnectivity and to also, in some cases, identify regions or areas ofthe two models that do not match or that have dissimilar connectivity(e.g., areas that may have been changed dining parallel processing of amodel). This approximation may include using a lazy-greedy comparison ormatching algorithm to compare two compressed versions of the models(e.g., skeleton or other compressed graphs) starting from identifiedanchor vertices. The methods and systems of the invention recognize thatproducing a maximum or best-case approximate topological match of twomeshes may be NP-hard (or nearly impossible), but the lazy-greedyalgorithm provided here produces good matches especially whenmismatching portions of the meshes are localized in the models.

More particularly, a computer-based method is provided for transferringattributes between animated models. The method includes storing orproviding in memory a first computer animated or CG model and a secondcomputer animated model that both comprise a polygonal mesh. The memoryis also used to store a set of attributes (e.g., data, properties, orother information) for at least the first model (e.g., data associatedwith vertices, edges, and/or faces of the mesh). A processor operates orruns a compressed graph generator to process the first and second modelsto generate first and second compressed graphs that are compressedversions of the first and second models (e.g., the compressed graphs mayeach have fewer vertices than the number found in their correspondingoriginal mesh or model,) Note, the compression step is primarily anacceleration technique, and the subsequent labeling, anchoridentification, and transfer work faster with such compression but mayalso be performed without compression in some embodiments of the method.The method continues with the processor acting to compare topologicalconnectivity of the first and second compressed graphs. When thecompared connectivity is similar, the method may include transferring atleast a portion of the attributes from the first model to the secondmodel. As defined herein, the compressed graphs may be motorcyclegraphs, skeleton graphs, or other forms of compressed graphs orcompressed versions/copies of the original mesh.

The method may also include determining a pair of vertices (e.g.,anchors) in the first compressed graph that match a pair of vertices inthe second compressed graph, and these pairs may be used as startinglocations or anchors in the step of comparing the topologicalconnectivity of the compressed graphs. Such anchor identification isautomated or performed by the processor running amodule/routine/algorithm that may function to label vertices of thecompressed graphs (e.g., based on emanating edges or otherwise),selecting a uniquely labeled vertex in the first compressed graph,finding a match in the second compressed graph, and then choosing aneighboring vertex to make a pair or a set of anchors. In some aspectsof the invention, the compared topological connectivity may be at leastpartially dissimilar, and the method may further include operating thecompressed graph generator to create skeleton graphs of the two originalmeshes (if not already completed) and then using the anchors to apply alazy-greedy algorithm to perform approximate topological matching of thefirst and second models. The output of such approximate topologicalmatching may be a set of matching regions and a set of nonmatchingregions (e.g., areas of similar topological connectivity and areas ofdissimilar topological connectivity or at least areas marked/identifiedas being dissimilar by the lazy-greedy algorithm). Then, the method mayinclude transferring some or all of the attributes from the first modelto the second in the set of matching regions of the models.

According to another aspect of the invention, code or logic readable bya computer may be provided on disk or other digital data storage deviceor medium. The code may cause a computer to effect retrieving first andsecond meshes from memory for first and second models and to effectgenerating compressed graphs of the first and second meshes. The codemay also cause the computer to effect identifying a pair of vertices inthe compressed graph of the first mesh that matches a pair of verticesin the compressed graph of the second mesh. Further, code may cause thecomputer to effect comparing topological connectivity of the compressedgraphs starting at the pairs of vertices to identify regions in thecompressed graphs with matching connectivity. Code may be provided tocause the computer to effect transferring attributes from one of thefirst and second models to the other one of the models, with theattributes being associated with regions identified as having matchingconnectivity. The comparing of the topological connectivity may includeidentifying regions in the compressed graphs with dissimilarity in thetopological connectivity.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram a computer system or networkconfigured for use in transferring attributes such as rendering or otheranimation-related data or information from one model to another modelwith similar or matching topological connectivity,;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a method of transferring attributes from onemodel to another that includes identifying regions with like or similartopological connectivity as well as nonmatching or dissimilar regions;

FIG. 3 illustrates a pair of CG or animation models in the form ofquadrilateral meshes that may be compared according to the invention forsimilarity of topological connectivity and as may be displayed in anoutput or report indicating matching and nonmatching regions based onsuch comparison;

FIG. 4 illustrates the pair of CG or animation models of FIG. 3 in thecompressed graph form showing the significant reduction in vertices,edges, and quadrilaterals provided by compression techniques such as amotorcycle graphing process;

FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate another pair of CG or animation models thathave been compared for topological connectivity similarity according toan embodiment of the invention showing nonmatching regions, which wouldbe difficult to find without use of the invention, and such as may beprovided in a GUI display or a report to an animator or operator; and

FIGS. 6A-6C illustrate construction of a motorcycle graph from aquadrilateral mesh version of a model or representation of an object.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Briefly, embodiments of the present invention are directed to methodsand systems for facilitating the transfer of attributes, such asinformation or data useful in rendering or other animation processes,from one animation or computer graphics (CG) model to another. Themethods and systems described address the broad problem of transferringattributes between two models stored in memory (e.g., transferattributes associated with faces, edges, and/or vertices from a sourcemodel to a target model). The method is a computer-based or fullyautomated method that functions to compare two input models such as amodel with polygonal meshes (e.g., quadrilateral or other meshes) todetermine if they have identical topological connectivity. To make sucha comparison more efficient, compressed graphs are first formed andthese compressed graphs are tested for similarity. The method may alsoinclude processes to automate the location of starting points or anchorvertices for use in performing the similarity testing or comparisonand/or for use in attribute transfer. Once full or partial connectivitysimilarity is determined or verified, the pair of starting or anchorvertices (e.g., one (or more) labeled or identified vertex in each modelor compressed graph of such model) may be input to an attribute transfermodule that then acts to transfer attributes from the source to thetarget model by working through all the neighboring and matchingvertices of the mesh of the model. If the comparison shows that the twomodels are not identical, the method may involve creating a skeleton orother compressed graph of the two models and then performing anapproximate topological matching with these compressed graphs toidentify portions or regions of the models that have matchingconnectivity and regions that are nonmatching. Attributes can betransferred in an automated fashion to the matching regions, and thenonmatching regions may be identified to an operator or reported inoutput of the transfer method.

The following description begins with an overview of a computer systemor work station that may be used to implement or practice the attributetransfer method and then discusses generally the attribute transfermethod of the invention. This discussion is followed by a detaileddescription of implementations of compressed graph generators as well asalgorithms for comparing connectivity, for providing approximatetopological matching, and for identifying useful anchors or startingvertices for attribute transfer.

FIG. 1 illustrates an attribute transfer system 100 of an embodiment ofthe invention that includes a server 110 linked by a digitalcommunications network 120 (such as a local area network (LAN), a widearea network (WAN), the Internet, or the other digital communicationsconnection) to an animation computer system 130. The server 110 andcomputer system 130 may take many forms to practice the invention suchas conventional servers and a variety of computer devices such asdesktop computers, computing workstations, laptops, notebooks, and thelike including other electronic devices configured to provideprocessing, memory, and other data storage and computing functions suchas devices adapted to support computer graphics processes as common inthe animation industry.

Further, the functions and features of the invention are described asbeing performed, in some cases, by “modules” (or “engines” or“algorithms”), and these modules may be implemented as software runningon a computing device and/or firmware, hardware, and/or a combinationthereof For example, the data attribute transfer method, processes,and/or functions described herein and including creation of compressedgraphs of CG models or quadrilateral meshes and comparison of thetopological connectivity of such compressed graphs may be performed byone or more processors or CPUs running software modules or programs. Themethods or processes performed by each module are described in detailbelow typically with reference to functional block diagrams, flowcharts, and/or data/system flow diagrams that highlight the steps thatmay be performed by subroutines or algorithms when a computer orcomputing device runs code or programs to implement the functionality ofembodiments of the invention. Further, to practice the invention, thecomputer, network, and data storage devices and systems (or memory) maybe any devices useful for providing the described functions, includingwell-known data processing and storage and communication devices andsystems such as computer devices or nodes typically used in computersystems or networks with processing, memory, and input/outputcomponents, and server devices (e.g., web servers and the like)configured to generate and transmit digital data over a communicationsnetwork. Data typically is communicated in a wired or wireless mannerover digital communications networks such as the Internet, intranets, orthe like (which may be represented in some figures simply as connectinglines and/or arrows representing data flow over such networks or moredirectly between two or more devices or modules) such as in digitalformat following standard communication and transfer protocols such asTCP/IP protocols.

In the system 100, a server or data storage device 110 is provided onthe network 120 (or otherwise accessible by computer system 130). Theserver 110 serves data stored in memory or data store 112 includinginformation or data that is stored during an animation project forexample but not limitation. For example, the memory 112 may be used tostore numerous animation or CG models 114 for objects or characters thatare being animated for inclusion in an animated film or the like. Inmany cases, the CG models 114 are each represented by or include a mesh116 (e.g., a polygonal mesh such as, but not limited to, a quadrilateralmesh) defined by the arrangement of numerous vertices 117 (and edgesbetween such vertices 117). For example, FIG. 3 illustrates a pair of CGmodels 310, 330 defined in part with quadrilateral meshes 320, 340.Associated with each of the CG models 114, model attributes 118 may bestored in memory 112 such as data and properties for use in animating anobject or character, e.g., data for use in later rendering processes.

The CG models 114 are typically created by a number of modelers or otheroperators of one or more animation/modeling (or other) computer systems,computers, or workstations 130 that are in communication with the memory112 via network 120 (or more directly). The computer system 130 includesa central processing unit (CPU) 132 that runs or controls input andoutput devices 134 (e.g., keyboards, mice, touch screens, voicerecognition devices, and the like) as well as a monitor 136 that may beoperated to view the CG models 114 and/or to allow an operator to enterinput and/or interact with an attribute transfer module 150 and otherprograms/routines running on or accessed by the system 130. The CPU 132may also manage or run a report and graphical user interface (GUI)generator 140 that creates the GUI 138 and may be used to create reportsor output of the attribute transfer module 150 and/or to print suchreports out or transmit the reports via network 120 or otherwise (e.g.,in an e-mail or the like).

Significantly, the computer system 130 includes an attribute transfermodule 150 that can be run to assist an operator in testing two models114 for similarity and when at least partial similarity is found, intransferring all or portions of the model attributes 118 from a sourceone of the models to a target one of the models. To this end, theattribute transfer module 150 includes a compressed graph generator 152that may be called by an operator via the GUI 138 or otherwise to createa compressed version or graph of one the models 114. For example, a pairof models 114 may have been processed by the compressed graph generator152 to generate compressed graphs 172, 174 that are stored in systemmemory 170.

A variety of techniques may be used to create compressed graphs orversions of the models 114 with the goal being to reduce processing(e.g., similarity testing) time between the compressed versions 172,174, and, generally, this means that the compressed versions 172, 174include a subset of the vertices 117 of the meshes 116 (withquadrilateral meshes shown in FIG. 1 as one non-limiting example) of themodels 114. As will be described in more detail below, the generator 152may use a motorcycle graph module 156 to form compressed graphs 172, 174in the form of motorcycle graphs or may use a skeleton graph module 158to form the compressed graphs 172, 174 in the form of skeleton graphs,with the choice often depending upon whether the compressed graph isrequired or preferred to be canonical (e.g., then a motorcycle graph maybe preferred) or if some risk of error is acceptable (e.g., then askeleton graph may be used).

The attribute transfer module 150 further includes a graph comparisonengine 160 that functions to compare two compressed graphs or versionsof models 114 such as graphs 172, 174 to determine if the connectivityis identical. This may involve providing a pair of vertices (one fromeach compressed graph) to the algorithm, which then may act to compareneighboring vertices in an iterative process to determine ifconnectivity is similar in the two compressed graphs 172, 174.Alternatively, an anchor vertices ID algorithm 163 may be run toidentify and/or recommend anchors or starting point vertices 176 for theconnectivity comparison by comparison engine 160. This may involve, asdiscussed below, creating unique labels 175 for the vertices. Forexample, the number of emanating edges from a vertex may be used as itslabel 175 and a second step may be concatenation of the labels of allneighboring vertices followed by selecting a concatenation with asmallest value. A matching value in the other compressed graph mayindicate a vertex that can be paired to create a pair of anchors orstarting vertices 176 for initiating connectivity comparison (and/orattribute transfer).

In some cases, the graph comparison engine 160 may determine that thetwo graphs 172, 174 (and the corresponding models 114) do not havesimilar topological connectivity. In such cases, an approximatetopological matching algorithm 162 (such as a lazy-greedy algorithm asdiscussed below or other approximate matching algorithm) may be run onthe compressed graphs 172, 174, which may be formed as skeleton graphsto facilitate proper operation of the matching algorithm 162. Theapproximate topological matching algorithm 162 may be selected toidentify matching regions as well as nonmatching model regions 178 thatmay be stored in memory 170 and reported to a user. The attributetransfer module 150 is further shown to include an attribute transfermodule 164 that may be called upon determination that two models 114 arematching based on similar topological connectivity of their compressedgraphs 172, 174. At this point, the identified anchors 176 or otherstarting point vertices (e.g., typically a pair is provided from eachmodel for use in attribute transfer by module 164) may be provided tothe attribute transfer module 164 that acts to transfer the propertiesor model attributes 118 from one of the models 114 identified as asource to one of the models 114 identified as the target to create a newor revised model 114 (e.g., CG, animation, or other model) with revisedattributes 118 (e.g., for corresponding vertices, edges, and faces theproperties of the source are transferred to the target in an iterative,automated process).

FIG. 2 illustrates a representative attribute transfer method 200 suchas may be performed by operation of the system 100 of FIG. 1 or othersystems. As shown, the method 200 starts at 205 such as by providing aset of animation models or meshes used to represent objects orcharacters. Step 205 typically may also include loading software toolssuch as the attribute transfer module 150 shown in FIG. 1 onto operatorcomputers (or providing these operators with access to such tools). Thismay also include a selection of which subset of available algorithmswill be used in various processing steps or this selection may be leftto an operator (e.g., a selection of whether to create compressed graphssuch as motorcycle graphs or skeleton graphs and a selection oftechniques/tools for identifying anchor pairs, for comparing topologicalconnectivity, for approximating topological matching if pairs of modelsdiffer in connectivity, for transferring attribute data, and so on).

The method 200 continues at 210 with retrieving a pair of models forsimilarity testing or connectivity comparison (e.g., choosing two modelsfrom memory or data storage). For example, an operator may wish tocompare the two CG models 310, 330 shown in FIG. 3 or the two CG models510, 530 shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B. As shown, models 310, 330 areprovided as quadrilateral meshes 320, 340 with numerous faces orquadrilaterals 312, 332 defined by vertices 314, 334 and edges 316, 336extending therebetween. Likewise, models 510, 530 are polygonal meshes(e.g., quadrilateral meshes or the like) with numerous faces 512, 532defined by vertices 514, 534 and edges 516, 536. As will be appreciated,it is very difficult to determine by visual inspection whether themeshes have similar topological connectivity, and, for illustrationpurposes, the models 310 and 510 are chosen to differ slightly frommodels 330, 530 with the nonmatching region or areas shown as shadedareas or regions 326, 346, 520, 540 (e.g., region 326 does not matchregion 346 and region 520 is dissimilar from region 540) while the restof the models do match.

The method 200 continues at 220 with generating a compressed version ofeach model. For example, the compressed graph generator 152 of FIG. 1may be called and the motorcycle graph module 156 run on models 310 and330 to generate compressed versions or graphs as shown in FIG. 4 withmotorcycle graphs 415, 425 for models 310, 320. As can be seen, themotorcycle graphs 415, 425 have significantly fewer vertices (and edgesand faces), which facilitates similarity testing and/or connectivitycomparison. As will be discussed below, motorcycle graphs are desirableas compressed graphs because they have been proven to provide anaccurate indication of whether two quadrilateral or other polygonalmeshes are similar (i.e., if the topological connectivity of twomotorcycle graphs is found to be identical then the connectivity of themeshes are also identical).

At 230, anchors or starting point vertices may be identified in each ofthe models (such as by labeling or other techniques as discussedherein). At 235, the method 200 continues with performing a comparisonof the connectivity of the compressed graph versions of the two modelsof interest. For example, this may involve an iterative comparisonprocess starting at the anchors and working outward to neighboringvertices to determine if the connectivity at each of these neighbors issimilar in both models. For example, such a comparison may be performedof models 510 and 530 by starting at anchor or starting point vertices526 and 546 (or another anchor pair) and may proceed upward until amismatch is identified in regions 520 when compared with regions 540. At240, the method 200 continues with a determination of whether theresults of the comparison 235 indicate that the topological connectivityis similar throughout the compressed graphs. If so, the method 200continues at 250 with transferring the attributes from the source modelto the target model (such as from model 310 to 330 or vice versa), andsuch transfer may start at the anchors or other identified startingpoints/vertices. At 255, the updated model is stored in memory and/orpassed to other processes for further modification or processing (e.g.,to a renderer or the like). At 260, the method 200 may include reportingany nonmatching regions (such as regions 326, 346) and/or results of thesimilarity testing such as indicating the models had similar topologicalconnectivity or providing a percent or fractional similarity (e.g., “themodels had 60 percent similarity and attributes were transferred to thatportion” or the like). The method 200 then ends at 295.

When at 240 it is determined that the connectivity of the two models wasnot identical, the method 200 continues at 270 with generating askeleton graph or other compressed graph that is useful for processingwhen connectivity is not identical. At 280, the method includesperforming approximate topological matching to identify nonmatchingregions, and this may include using the lazy-greedy algorithm for thetool 162 of FIG. 1, with this technique described in detail below. At290, anchor vertices may be identified or these may be from step 230. Itmay be desirable to continue with transferring of the attributes fromthe matching portion of the source model to the matching portion of thetarget model (e.g., to all areas except the nonmatching model regionssuch as regions 520 and 540 of FIGS. 5A and 5B). The method 200 thencontinues with performance of steps 250, 255, and 260 and ends at 295.

With the above discussion of an attribute transfer system and method inmind, it may now be useful to describe in more detail specific aspectsand/or embodiments of the invention including how to generate compressedgraphs or compressed versions of animation models. Specifically, thefollowing discussion provides a description of algorithms, which may beimplemented within the compressed graph generator 152 of FIG. 1, topartition unstructured quadrilateral meshes into multiple structuredsubmeshes such as a canonical partition based on the motorcycle graphingtechnique. The discussion then shows how such a compressed graph in theform of a motorcycle graph can be used to efficiently find isomorphismsbetween the meshes and also discusses how such a canonical partition maybe constructed or generated in sublinear or reduced time when the set ofextraordinary vertices of a model or its mesh is known (e.g.,compression as described significantly increases efficiency in storingmodel versions for comparison and also the actual process of testingsimilarity of topological connectivity). Also, a description is providedof techniques for further reducing the number of components of astructured partition of a mesh. As will be shown, although optimizationof the number of components may be very difficult (e.g., NP-hard),heuristics can be used to approximate a reduced or minimum number ofsuch components. The term canonical is used in this context to indicatethat for any particular quadrilateral mesh there is only one motorcyclegraph, e.g., use of the motorcycle graph technique provides canonicalcompression of models because if you have two meshes and they have thesame connectivity the result or output will be the same compression orcompressed graph.

Quadrilateral meshes have many applications in computer graphics,surface modeling, and finite element simulation, and any of theseapplications may provide the animation or CG models discussed herein.The polygon meshes of a model may be quadrilateral meshes, and thesimplest quadrilateral meshes are structured meshes in which connectionsbetween quadrilaterals form a regular grid. However, in complicateddomains, it may be necessary to use meshes in which this structure isinterrupted by a small number of irregular vertices that do not havedegree four. For example, mesh generation methods may replace eachquadrilateral of a coarse unstructured quadrilateral mesh with a finerstructured mesh, and, with such methods, flaws may occur at the coarsemesh vertices. Similar domain decomposition-based meshing techniqueshave been studied, and in these techniques, the initial coarse meshpartitions the finished mesh into structured submeshes. However,subsequent processing steps may cause the knowledge of the partition tobe lost. Alternatively, meshing methods may be used in CG modeling thatdo not form structured submeshes within each subdomain or that are notbased on domain decomposition. Even for a prepartitioned mesh, it may bepossible to repartition the mesh into structured submeshes in multipleways. The use of a motorcycle graph provides one technique of generatinga compressed graph of a given mesh (e.g., an unstructured quadrilateralmesh) or model by providing a partition with a small number ofstructured submeshes.

There are a number of motivations for providing an improved (e,g.,reduced complexity and canonical) compressed graph of a CG model orpartition of a quadrilateral mesh or other polygonal mesh. For example,as discussed for use in computer animation, similarity testing betweentwo models stored in memory or worked on in parallel is very importantand useful to allow attributes to be transferred between the models.Hence, as a specific example of algorithmic increased efficiency oncompressed meshes, the following discussion considers testing of thesimilarity between pairs of object represented or modeled asquadrilateral meshes. For instance, the objects may represent two copiesof a model within a scene, and by finding an isomorphism from one copyto another, rendering information such as texture maps or otherattributes may be shared. For models of bounded genus, isomorphismtesting may be performed in linear time, but these algorithms arecomplex and may have a high constant factor in their linear runtime. Incontrast, by applying these same tests to a compressed version of themodel rather than the uncompressed input model, the speed of suchisomorphism testing is significantly increased without sacrificingaccuracy or robustness. In addition, compression of a mesh to amotorcycle graph allows certain features of the mesh such as distancesbetween irregular vertices to become more salient, which leads to betterperformance from the isomorphism algorithms. Also, as discussed below,the compressed representations or graphs described herein may also beused in approximate similarity testing in which one mesh may differ by arelatively small amount with respect to another and in which the task isto find the large portions of the two meshes that remain identicallyconnected (e.g., regions or portions of the models with matchingconnectivity).

Other applications for an enhanced compressed graph or version of a meshinclude texture mapping, mesh compression, algorithms on compressedmeshes, and scientific computation. Texture mapping is a standardtechnique in graphics whereby a two-dimensional bitmap image isprojected onto the faces of a three-dimensional model. A partition intosubmeshes provides a convenient framework for describing thecorrespondence between two-dimensional pixels and three-dimensionalvertices, e.g., one can store a separate bitmap image for each submeshand map each submesh quadrilateral vertex to the corresponding pixel inthe bitmap. A partition with few submeshes minimizes the overheadassociated with the bitmap objects and reduces visual artifacts at theseams between submeshes. With regard to mesh compression, a partition ofan unstructured mesh into structured submeshes can be used as acompressed representation of the mesh that may be substantially morespace efficient than the original uncompressed mesh. With meshes withfew flaws, the compressed size of the mesh topology (e.g., in amotorcycle graph) is proportional to the small number of irregularvertices. Much of the emphasis in this application regards meshtopology, but it may also be used in compressing the mesh geometry asthe techniques of the invention provide a structured neighborhood ofeach vertex that could be used in predicting vertex positions from theirneighbors.

Regarding algorithms on compressed meshes, several efficient algorithmsin image and video processing, graph algorithms, and text searchingapply directly to the compressed data rather than needing to uncompressthe data before processing it. Such techniques can often be made to runin an amount of time proportional only to the compressed data size, andthe compressed graphs or representations of unstructured mesh via itspartition into structured submeshes (e.g., into a motorcycle graph) maybe helpful in finding similar solutions to algorithmic problems onmeshes. Regarding scientific computation, in finite element computationson quadrilateral grids, the code for looping over mesh elements andcomputing their updated simulation values can be greatly simplified andsped up when the mesh is structured. By partitioning unstructured meshesinto a small number of structured submeshes and using a code structurein which an update cycle includes an outer loop over submeshes and aninner tight loop over the elements within each submesh, it should bepossible to achieve similar speed ups while allowing less structuredmeshes that may be easier to generate or that may better fit the domainstructure.

Through theoretical development, it has been shown that the method forgenerating compressed graphs or partitions using the motorcycle graphtechnique is canonical in the sense that it does not depend on theordering in which the mesh elements are stored but only on theconnectivity of the initial mesh or model. Such a canonical partition isof particular interest with regard to the mesh isomorphism problembecause it allows isomorphisms to be found (e.g., match regions) betweenmeshes in an amount of time that depends on the compressed size of themesh rather than on its overall number of elements. The followingdescription also provides data that shows that on meshes from animationapplications the canonical partition or compressed graph leads to asubstantial reduction in storage size compared to the initialunpartitioned mesh or model. The described canonical partition orcompression may also be constructed in certain cases in time that issublinear in the input. Specifically, if the initial list of irregularvertices in a mesh is given, the partition or compressed graph can beconstructed in time that is proportional to the number of boundary edgesin the mesh, which may be a substantially smaller number than the numberof edges in the entire input mesh. Also, regarding problems of findingpartitions that are optimal in the sense of minimizing the size of thecompressed representation of the mesh, it can be shown that manyproblems of this type are NP-complete, but the canonical partitionapproximates them to within a constant factor. Further, heuristics canbe used for reducing the size of compressed representations beyond thesize provided by our canonical partition.

At this point in the discussion, it may be useful to discuss some of theterms used in the description of the canonical partition or generationof a compressed graph of a mesh representation of a modeled object orcharacter. An abstract quadrilateral mesh is a structure (V, E, Q),where V is a set of vertices, E is a set of edges, and Q is a set ofquadrilaterals. The mesh or its structure has the following properties:(a) V, E, Q are finite; (b) (V, E) forms a simple undirected graph,e.g., each edge includes an unordered pair of distinct vertices, no twoedges connect the same pair of vertices, and, if an edge e is formed bythe pair {v, w}, v and w are called the endpoints of E; (c) eachquadrilateral in Q includes an oriented cycle of four edges in the graph(V, E); (d) each edge in E belongs to at least one, and at most two,quadrilaterals in Q; (e) any two quadrilaterals in Q intersect in asingle edge, a single vertex, or the empty set; (f) if twoquadrilaterals intersect in a single edge {u, v}, then that edge isoriented from u to v in one of the two corresponding two cycles of fouredges and from v to u in the other cycle; and (g) if two quadrilateralsq and q′ intersect in a single vertex v, there is a sequence ofquadrilaterals q=q₀, q₁, q_(k)=q′ such that each pair q_(i), q_(i)+1 ofconsecutive quadrilaterals in the sequence intersects in an edge thathas v as its endpoint.

The boundary of a quadrilateral mesh includes all edges of E that belongto exactly one quadrilateral of Q, and all vertices incident to an edgeof this type. In graphics and scientific simulation applications, thevertices correspond to points in space, but that correspondence is notrequired for the algorithms described here. A submesh of a quadrilateralmesh M=(V, E, Q) is a mesh M′=(V′, E′, Q′) and a one-to-one mapping fromQ′ to Q, such that whenever any two quadrilaterals of Q′ intersect in anedge, the corresponding quadrilaterals of Q also intersect in an edge.Further, whenever any two quadrilaterals of Q′ intersect in a vertex,the corresponding quadrilaterals of Q intersect in at least a vertex. Asubmesh can be formed by cutting apart Q along a set of edgescorresponding to the boundary edges of Q′ and keeping a connectedcomponent of the result. An ordinary vertex of a quadrilateral mesh is anon-boundary vertex incident with exactly four edges of the mesh or aboundary vertex incident with at most three edges. An extraordinaryvertex is a vertex that is not ordinary. A mesh or submesh is structuredif it has no extraordinary vertices and unstructured otherwise. As willbecome clear, a main emphasis of the compression techniques describedherein is the partition of quadrilaterals of a mesh M=(V, F, Q) into asmall number of subsets Q₁, Q₂, . . . , such that each Q_(i) is the setof quadrilaterals in a structured submesh of M, and such a partition orcompressed graph may be labeled a structured partition of M.

Regarding the classification of structured meshes, variable a and b maybe positive integers. Then, an (a, b)-grid may be said to be thestructured mesh formed by the unit squares with integer vertexcoordinates within the rectangle {(x, y)|0≦x≦a and 0≦y≦b}. Two meshesare isomorphic if there is a one-to-one correspondence between theirvertices, edges, and quadrilaterals, preserving all incidences betweenpairs of objects. A first lemma may be stated that if M is a structuredmesh, then the manifold formed by M is homeomorphic to a disk, anannulus (i.e., a disk with a single hole in it), or a torus. Further, ifM forms a disk, it is isomorphic to an (a, b)-grid.

In representing a structured partition, a schematic partition may bethought of as a graph or multigraph (e.g., a compressed graph) that isembedded on a two-dimensional manifold without boundary. Such aschematic partition may have the following properties: (a) each edge ismarked with a length; (b) some of the vertex-face intersections aremarked as corners; (e) each vertex has at least two incident edges suchthat if a vertex has exactly two incident edges then exactly one of itsvertex-face intersections is marked as a corner; (d) each face of theembedding is topologically a disk and has either zero or four corners:(e) at least one of the two faces incident to each edge has fourcorners; and (f) if a face has four corners, then these cornerspartition the boundary of the face into four paths such that the twopaths in each opposite pair of paths have the same length.

It may be convenient to represent schematic partitions using a wingededged data structure made up of an object for each edge with pointers tothe four edges clockwise and counterclockwise from it on each incidentface. To augment this data structure to describe a schematic partition,a length may be stored in memory for each edge object, and two bitsrepresenting the existence of a corner at the two vertex-3faceintersections clockwise of the edge on each of its two incident faces.Then, mesh M may be said to have a structured partition Q₁, Q₂, . . .Q_(k) into structured submeshes, each topologically a disk. From thispartition, a schematic partition may be formed representing M by lettingX be the set of vertices of M that have nonzero deficiency in M itselfor in at least one submesh Q_(i). Then, Y can be decomposed into afamily of paths in M, having vertices in X as endpoints. A schematicpartition is formed with one edge per path that is labeled by the lengthof the path. Conversely, from a schematic partition formed in this wayfrom a quadrilateral mesh M, a mesh isomorphic to M can be formed byreplacing each marked face of G, having paths connecting its cornerswith lengths a, b, a, b, by an isomorphic copy of an (a, b)-grid. Inthis sense, a schematic partition can be thought of as a compressedgraph or representation of M, requiring space proportional to the numberof edges in G rather than to the number of vertices, edges, andquadrilaterals or faces in M. In one specific example, a schematicpartition (or one form of a compressed graph) of a quadrilateral meshhaving 323 vertices, 622 edges, and 300 quadrilaterals may take the formof a winged edge data structure having only 44 edge objects.

Significantly, compressed graphs or partitions may be generated using amotorcycle graph technique (e.g., as may be implemented in thecompressed graph generator 152 to perform the process 200 of FIG. 2).Specifically, a technique is now described according to one embodimentof the invention for finding a partition of an abstract quadrilateralmesh, independent of its representation. This independence allows ourpartition to be used, for instance, in finding isomorphisms betweenpairs of meshes. In this regard, two meshes will be isomorphic (e.g., ina comparison such as may be provided by comparison engine 160 of FIG. 1or in step 235 of the method 200 of FIG. 2) if and only if theirpartitions are isomorphic, and,, therefore, an isomorphism algorithm(e.g., as may be used by the comparison engine 160) can be applieddirectly on the schematic partitions of the meshes rather than on theoriginal uncompressed meshes.

In one embodiment, the technique used to generate a compressed graph orpartition is based on the motorcycle graph, e.g., a constructioninspired by a video game in the 1982 Disney movie Tron and previouslyused in algorithms for constructing straight skeletons. In the movie,players ride “light cycles” that move horizontally and vertically withina playing field, leaving paths behind them that are visible as glowingwalls. The object of the game is to force one's opponents to crash intothese walls; when this happens, the player who crashes loses the game.The motorcycle graph for a system of moving particles in the plane isformed by moving each particle in a straight line at its initialvelocity until it reaches a point that has previously been part of thetrack followed by one of the other particles; when this happens, itstops. The paths traced out by the particles in this system form apseudoforest called a motorcycle graph.

Similarly, a motorcycle graph may be determined or generated for aquadrilateral mesh or CG model using the following process (and thenthis type of compressed graph may be used in similarity testing betweentwo models). At each extraordinary vertex of the mesh, incident to dedges, place d particles, one moving outwards on each edge. Assign allparticles equal velocities. Then, in a sequence of time steps, move eachparticle along the edge on which it is placed. When a particle reachesan ordinary interior vertex of the mesh, it continues in the next timestep outwards from that vertex on the opposite edge at that vertex.However, when two oppositely-traveling particles meet, when a particlemeets a vertex that has previously been traversed by itself or anotherparticle, or when a particle meets a boundary vertex of the mesh, thetraveling particle stops.

There may be several ways of determining what happens when particlesthat are not oppositely oriented meet simultaneously at a vertex. Forexample, if there are three or four particles that meet simultaneouslyin this way, they all stop. However, if exactly two particles meetperpendicularly at a vertex, the compression or partitioning techniquemay employ the “right-hand rule” familiar to American drivers atintersections with four-way stops: the particle on the left (that is,clockwise from the right angle formed by the two particles' tracks)stops, while the particle on the right (that is, counterclockwise fromthe right angle) keeps going. Note that this rule depends on having anorientation on the mesh, which may be imposed as part of a definition ofan abstract quadrilateral mesh.

Eventually, all particles stop traveling. Each moving particle movesfrom a vertex that is not reused as the source of another movingparticle, and, as a result, the process runs out of vertices from whichparticles can move. The motorcycle graph of the mesh includes the set ofedges traversed by particles as part of this process, together with allboundary edges of the mesh. FIGS. 6A-6C show the process of motorcyclegraph construction on an example mesh 600 formed of a plurality of facesor quadrilaterals, vertices 612, and edges 614. In FIG. 6A, theconstruction is shown after one time step with particles emanating fromeach extraordinary vertex 620 shown as moving one edge away from theirinitial positions. In FIG. 6B, the construction is shown after two timesteps with some particles having collided with each other. In FIG. 6C,the completed motorcycle graph 650 is shown including its significantlyreduced number of faces or quadrilaterals 652, vertices 654, and edges656.

A first theorem (or Theorem 1) regarding motorcycle graphs may be statedas the motorcycle graph partitions any abstract quadrilateral mesh Minto structured submeshes. If M is not itself structured, each of thesubmeshes is topologically equivalent to a disk. The motorcycle graph isdetermined uniquely by the connectivity of the mesh and does not dependon the computer representation of the mesh. For surfaces of boundedgenus, the motorcycle graph partitions any mesh into a number ofstructured submeshes that is within a constant factor of the minimumpossible. The numbers of vertices and edges of the correspondingschematic partition are also within a constant factor of the minimumpossible. If M is given together with a list of the extraordinaryvertices in M, then the motorcycle graph may be constructed in an amountof time that is proportional to the total number of edges in M that itcontains.

As noted above, one motivating application was for creating compressedgraphs or partitions such as the motorcycle graph was for use in testingthe isomorphism of meshes. In that light, a second theorem (or Theorem2) may be used to show that use of the motorcycle graph speeds upisomorphism calculations. In this second theorem, M and M′ are taken tobe quadrilateral meshes. Then M and M′ are isomorphic if and only if therespective schematic partitions corresponding to the motorcycle graphsof M and M′ are isomorphic as labeled, embedded multigraphs. Isomorphismbetween quadrilateral meshes on bounded-genus surfaces may be tested inlinear time by constructing the motorcycle graphs and applying Miller'salgorithm to the resulting schematic partitions (e.g., the graphcomparison algorithm may be that developed by G. Miller, which is knownto those skilled in the art and, hence, is not need repeated here butmay be found in Proc. 12^(th) Annual ACM Symp. on Theory of Computing,pages 225-235, 1980, article entitled “Isomorphism Testing for Graphs ofBounded Genus,” which is incorporated herein by reference).

Although this result may not provide significant improvement inasymptotic complexity over direct application of Miller's algorithm tothe original meshes, it does provide practical improvement in severalways. First, the only part of the algorithm in which the uncompressedrepresentation of the input mesh is handled is as input for theconstruction of the motorcycle graph, which is much simpler thanMiller's isomorphism testing algorithm and, as a result, likely has muchsmaller constant factors in its linear runtime. Second, if theextraordinary vertices are known, the whole algorithm may be performedin time sublinear in the input size. Third, the motorcycle graphconstruction need be performed only once for each mesh, allowingsubsequent isomorphism tests to be performed efficiently on thesecompressed graphs for models.

In a test of the motorcycle graph partition (e.g., a compressed graphgenerator using a motorcycle graph module), the partitionroutine/technique was applied to six meshes created for a feature filmanimation application. The results showed: (a) Model A had 820 verticesand 1603 edges in the original mesh and 98 vertices and 123 edges in themotorcycle graph or schematic partition to provide a compression factorof about 12.0 percent for vertices and about 7.7 percent for edges; (b)Model B had 1070 vertices and 2110 edges in the original mesh and had164 vertices and 247 edges in the schematic partition for a compressionfactor of about 15.3 percent for the vertices and 11.7 percent for theedges; (c) Model C had 3099 vertices and 6034 edges in the original meshand had 286 vertices and 408 edges in the schematic partition for acompression factor of about 9.2 percent in the vertices and 6.8 percentin the edges; (d) Model D had 6982 vertices and 13933 edges in theoriginal mesh and had 711 vertices and 1251 edges in the schematicpartition for a compression factor of about 10.2 percent for verticesand 9.0 percent for edges; (e) Model E had 9958 vertices and 19889 edgesin the original mesh and had 749 vertices and 1299 edges in theschematic partition for a compression factor of about 7.5 percent forvertices and 6.5 percent for edges; and (f) Model F had 10281 verticesand 20530 edges in the original mesh and had 761 vertices and 1300 edgesin the schematic partition for a compression factor of about 7.4 percentfor vertices and 6.3 percent for edges. Also, as discussed above, FIG. 3illustrates a pair of models 310, 330 that may be processed using thesecompression techniques to form the motorcycle graphs 415, 425 based onthe meshes of models 310, 330 as shown in FIG. 4. The reduction in sizeof the number of edges in the schematic partition (the controllingfactor for the size of its winged-edge representation) compared to thenumber of edges in the original mesh ranged from 6.33% to 11.71%, withsome trend towards better compression on larger meshes. The reduction inthe number of vertices was similar although not quite so great. It isexpected a similar reduction would be found in the time for performingisomorphism tests (such as Miller's algorithm or other similaritytesting) on compressed meshes with respect to the times for testingtheir uncompressed counterparts, and perhaps, in this case, the speedupmight be even larger due to the presence of labels in the schematicpartition which may serve to help in isomorphism testing.

In some applications of structured partitions, it may be acceptable tospend a greater amount of preprocessing time and sacrifice canonicalnessof the resulting partition. In this regard, several observations may bemade related to minimizing the number of vertices in any schematicpartition for a mesh M. First, each extraordinary vertex of the inputmesh should be a vertex of the schematic partition. Second, at eachextraordinary vertex, edges of the schematic partition should followpaths that use at least every other outgoing edge for, if twoconsecutive edges at the vertex remained unused, the result would be anextraordinary boundary vertex of degree four or greater in some submeshof the partition, Third, the motorcycle graph construction may bemodified to produce a valid structured partition by allowing particlesto travel at different velocities or with different starting times. Thesimultaneous movement of the particles is important in making themotorcycle graph canonical but not in generating a correct partition.Fourth, the schematic partition formed from a motorcycle graph includesas a vertex an ordinary vertex v of M only if some particle reaches vafter some other particle has already reached it or if two particlesreach v simultaneously.

Thus, a smaller partition than the motorcycle graph itself may be foundin some cases by a process in which the partition is built up by addinga single path at a time, at each step starting from an extraordinaryvertex and extending a path from it until it hits either anotherextraordinary vertex or an ordinary vertex that has previously beenincluded in one of the paths. In this process, priority may be givenfirst to paths that extend from one extraordinarily vertex to anotherbecause these paths cannot do not add any additional vertices to thepartition. Secondly, paths may be preferred in the initial edge of whichis an even number of positions from some other edge around the sameextraordinary vertex in order to use as few paths emanating from thatvertex as possible. Once no two consecutive edges at an extraordinaryvertex remain unused, the partition process may terminate with a validpartition. The partition discussed above with 323 vertices, 622 edges,and 300 quadrilaterals in the original, mesh, for instance, may beconstructed by a process of this type, and, for such a smaller mesh,this technique for creating a compressed version of the model issignificantly simpler than the motorcycle graph partition of the samemesh.

An alternative approach to reducing the complexity of partitions intostructured submeshes would be, instead, to form the motorcycle graph,and then to repeatedly merge pairs of structured submeshes, the union ofwhich is still structured. For instance, the motorcycle graph 650 inFIG. 6C contains many mergable pairs of submeshes. This approach wouldnot be able to find certain partitions, for instance those in which someinstances of the right hand rule have been replaced by a synmmetric lefthand rule. So, it may be less effective at finding small partitions, butit would have the advantage of working within the compressed mesh afteran initial motorcycle graph construction phase. Therefore, such analternate compression technique could likely be implemented to run moreefficiently than the careful selection of paths described above.

Note, some special cases of problems of finding optimal partitions maybe solvable in polynomial time. For instance, a polygon in the planewith horizontal and vertical sides (possibly with holes) may bepartitioned into the minimum possible number of rectangles, inpolynomial time. The same algorithm may be adapted to find a partitionof a mesh having only axis-aligned rectangles into a minimum number ofstructured submeshes, again in polynomial time. However, this methodtypically does not minimize the number of vertices and edges of aschematic partition for the mesh and likely may only be applied, to avery restricted subset of quadrilateral meshes.

In order to show that finding optimal structured partitions is hard, theproblem of finding an optimal structured partition is modeled as adecision problem. Three such problems may be defined, one for eachparameter measuring the size of a partition, and, then, it can be shownthat they are all NP-complete. Specifically, a third theorem (or Theorem3) may be stated as follows. It is NP-complete to determine, for a givenmesh M and parameter k, whether there exists a partition of M into atmost k structured submeshes, which there exists a partition of M intostructured submeshes that corresponds to a schematic partition with atmost k vertices, or whether there exists a partition of M intostructured submeshes that corresponds to a schematic partition with atmost k edges. The proof may be completed by a reduction from maximumindependent sets in cubic planar graphs, via an intermediate problem,which can also be shown to be NP-complete with finding a maximumindependent set in the instruction graph of a family of line segmentssuch that any two intersecting segments in the family cross properly.

To summarize some of this discussion of creating a compressed graph inthe form of a motorcycle graph, a number of problems were investigatedand solved that involved canonical and optimal partitioning ofunstructured quadrilateral meshes into structured meshes. The motorcyclegraph approximates the optimal structured partition to within a constantfactor in the number of vertices, edges, and submeshes. The constantfactor that the inventors have been able to prove is relatively large,but it is likely that further efforts by those skilled in the art willprove or provide tighter bounds on its quality or on the quality of theimproved mesh partitioning strategies that were described based onsequential choices of paths giving priority to paths that connect pairsof extraordinary, vertices. The proof that optimal partitioning problemsare hard relies on meshes with a very large number of boundarycomponents, and accordingly high genus, but in some cases, theseproblems may also be hard for bounded-genus meshes. In addition, it maybe of interest to gather more empirical data on the application of ourstructured partition techniques to the problems described above. Inbrief, the inventors have implemented an exact mesh isomorphism strategybased on the motorcycle graph, and the results are very promising foruse in compressing data storage needs and for facilitating comparison oftwo models based on their compressed graphs and then when at leastpartially isomorphism is found transferring attributes or data from onemodel to the other (e.g., from a source model to a target model).

With a solid understanding of mesh compression using motorcycle graphprocesses in hand, it may now be useful to explain other compressiontechniques (e.g., skeleton graph techniques) and other processing usefulfor performing similarity testing (e.g., identifying anchor vertices).Before turning to such details, a reminder that quadrilateral meshes areused to model objects and characters as representing polyhedral surfacessuch that each face is a quadrilateral Having each face a quadrilateralis useful in part because quadrilaterals or quads can be easilypartitioned into finer quadrilateral grids, which facilitatesapplications such as refining a low-resolution texture image mapped to asingle quad into a high-resolution image mapped into a grid of refinedsub-quads in that single quad. In order to better utilize the time ofpeople such as animators working with a given quad mesh or CG model, itis common for a single mesh to be used in a number of differentprocessing paths in parallel.

As discussed above, a signal mesh may be processed simultaneously fortexture mapping, feature mapping, finite element analysis for physicalanimation purposes, and morphing for object animation. Unfortunately,the software systems that perform the multiple simultaneous tasks on agiven mesh M often use different internal representations of M, which inturn can result in different representations of mesh M in the output ofeach task, e.g., reordering or reindexing of vertices of the mesh Mwhile keeping the topological structure of mesh M unchanged orcomputation al tasks may slightly change the structure in hard toidentify places. Thus, in order to integrate the results of a set ofmultiple parallel tasks performed on a mesh M, it is desirable to matchor perform similarity testing as well as possible on all the copies orversions of a particular model or mesh M. Such matching or determinationthat all or portions of two models are similar in connectivity allowsthat attributes such as texturing and feature mapping can be transferredfrom one model to another. When quad meshes (or their compressed graphsor embedded graphs) are not fully identical with regard to topologicalconnectivity, it is desirable to solve the approximate topologicalmatching problem as to identify much of the matching portion and toidentify the nonmatching regions or portions of the model (which mayinclude at least some regions that have similar topologicalconnectivity).

In the following paragraphs, the problem and possible solutions aredescribed for how to find a best match between two potentiallydissimilar quadrilateral meshes (e.g., two models that are similar butinclude one or more regions of nonmatching topological connectivity).Such algorithms and techniques may be implemented by the attributetransfer module 150 of FIG. 1 such as in the skeleton graph module 158,the graph comparison engine 160, the approximate topological matchingalgorithm 162, and the anchor vertices ID algorithm 163 (as well as themethod 200 of FIG. 2 when topological connectivity similarity is notfound at 235). In brief the describe results indicate that the problemof finding the best match is NP-hard or nearly impossible (if “best” ismost matching vertices), implying that it is very unlikely that there isa polynomial-time algorithm for approximate topological matching. Ofcourse, there is a polynomial-time solution for finding an exacttopological match between two meshes if such a match exists, but thequadratic running time of such an algorithm makes its use impracticalfor most real world meshes with more than a few hundred quads (and formost computing applications). Moreover, because most of the vertices ina quadrilateral mesh have degree four, there is a considerable amount ofnatural similarity and symmetry between quad meshes, which makes eventhe exact matching problem interesting or challenging in practice.

In some of the following embodiments, a heuristic algorithm is providedfor use in approximating topological mesh matching (e.g., for use inmatching algorithm 162 of FIG. 1). The heuristic algorithm is, at leastin part, based on a graph-theoretic analogue to the Delaunaytriangulation. A Delaunay triangulation may be defined on a set ofpoints S in the plane as the graphtheoretic dual of a Voronoi diagram ofS. If we imagine that the plane is made of a combustible materials, anda fire is started from each point in S and the propagation of the wavesof the fire are watched, then the Delaunay triangulation is the graphdefined by joining every pair of points whose waves of fire crash intoeach other. Different versions of the Delaunay triangulation may beproduced depending on the shape of the fire waves (e.g., as defined byuniform-distance balls determined by L₁, L₂, or L_(∞) metrics). Thisapproach may be applied to quad meshes in embodiments of the invention,viewing the vertices of degree four as “combustible material” and theextraordinary vertices of degree other than four as the starting pointsfor the fires. Such a fire propagation approach to defining agraph-theoretic Delaunay triangulation has, in some cases an undesirablecomplication for approximation matching. It can lead to poor matcheswhen a deformed portion of the mesh is shrunk relative to a portion itshould be approximately matched against. However, the fire-growingapproach described herein for use in approximate matching can be made towork effectively even in these more difficult cases as long as the wavefronts are grown in a lazy-greedy fashion, which is one preferredembodiment of the approximate topological matching algorithm of theinvention, so as to grow the largest portions of matching wave fronts.

Before discussing specific algorithms and results, it may be helpful todiscuss and describe terms and general information about quadrilateralmeshes (or assumptions made by the inventors). Any graph drawn on thesphere S₀ in three-dimensional space partitions the surface of S₀ intocells such that each is homeomorphic to a disk (e.g., it is assumed thatgraphs are drawn without edge crossings). Each such cell is called aface in the embedding, and adding g “handles” to S₀ gives the surfaceS_(g′) which is said to have genus g. For example, a traditional coffeecup is of genus 1.

A cellular embedding of a graph on S_(g) is a drawing that partitionsS_(g) into cells such that each is homeomorphic to a disk. Aquadrilateral mesh is a cellular embedding of a graph G=(V, E) onto asurface S_(g) such that each face is a quadrilateral. The genus of themesh is g in this case. A quad mesh may be viewed as a triple (V, E, Q)where V is a set of vertices, E is a set of edges, and Q is a set ofquadrilaterals. In addition, quad meshes are represented with a datastructure, such as a “winged edge” structure (e.g., a winged-edgepolyhedron representation such as described by B. G. Baumgart inTechnical Report CS-TR-72-320, Stanford University, 1972, which isincorporated herein by reference), that supports the followingoperations: (a) list the incident edges around a given vertex (inclockwise or counter-clockwise order) in time proportional to the degreeof that vertex; (b) list the bounding edges around a given face (inclockwise or counter-clockwise order) in time proportional to the sizeof that face; and (c) list the two vertices that are the endpoints of agiven edge in constant time.

The simplest form of quad mesh is a structured mesh, where every vertexhas degree four. The average degree of vertices in a bounded-genus quadmesh is 4, and it is common for the majority of vertices in a quad meshto have degree 4. For this reason, if a vertex in a quad mesh is aninterior vertex with degree different than 4 or an exterior (boundary)vertex with degree different than 3, then that vertex is referred to asan extraordinary vertex. Regarding the size of a quad mesh,traditionally, an algorithm operating on a graph G is characterized interms of n=|V|, the number of vertices of (G, and m=|E|, the number ofedges in G. These measures are present in quad mesh algorithms as well,but there is also q=|Q|, the number of quads, so it is useful to relatethese quantities. Hence, a first observation (or Observation 1) may bethat in a quad mesh with m edges and q faces, 2q≦m≦4q. A proof of suchan observation may be that if the number of edges on every face issummed up each edge is counted at least once and at most twice. Sinceeach face is a quadrilateral, 4q≦2m and m≦4q.

A second observation (or Observation 2) may be that the number of edgesand faces in a quad mesh can be arbitrarily larger than the number ofvertices. Proof of such an observation is that two vertices can beplaced at opposite poles of a sphere and as many edges as liked can beadded joining them. Now, remove the sphere and enlarge each edge to be athin tube. Next, take each original vertex and split into two pointsseparated by the width of a tube, with one on top and one on the bottom.Now, for each tube, run an edge between the two top vertices, an edgebetween the two bottom vertices, and an edge joining top to bottom ateach pole. This creates a quad mesh with four vertices and an arbitrarynumber of faces and edges.

Although it is not uncommon in the solid modeling literature to allowfor such multiple edges and even self loops in the graph defined by aquadrilateral mesh, the following description is generally limited tosimple meshes, where there are no multiple edges between the same pairof vertices and no self loops. Likewise, multiple edges and self loopsare disallowed in the dual graph, which is formed by placing a vertex ineach quad and joining two quads Q and R with an edge any time Q and Rhave an edge of the mesh in common. Likewise, the mesh is well-formed,meaning that it satisfy the following: (a) for each vertex v, the set ofquads containing v is connected in the dual graph; (b) the boundary of aquadrilateral mesh M includes all edges of E that belong to exactly onequadrilateral in M and all vertices incident to an edge of this type(also, for every cyclic portion C of the boundary of M on S_(g) (thatis, a “hole” in the mesh), the interior of C is homeomorphic to a disk,which may be stated that each hole in M is contractible); (c) every edgein M is adjacent to at least one and at most two quadrilateral faces ofM; and (d) any two quadrilaterals in Q intersect in a single edge, asingle vertex, or the empty set.

A third observation (or Observation 3) may be stated that in a simple,connected, well-formed quadrilateral mesh M of genus g, with n verticesand m edges, m≦2+4g−4. Proof for such observation is that since M is asimple, cellularly embedded graph in g, the Euler characteristicimplies: n−m+q=2−2g. Specifically, the Euler characteristic (which isalso called “Euler's formula” or the “Euler-Poincare characteristic”)states that, in such embeddings, the number of vertices minus the numberof edges plus the number of faces is equal to 2−2g. That is, in thiscase, m=n+q+2g−2. Based on the first observation discussed above (orObservation 1), q≦m/2 and thus, m≦2n+4g−4.

In most practical applications of quadrilateral meshes, the genus g of agiven mesh is bounded by constant, and it is likely O(n). In fact, g istypically 0 or 1. Thus, the above lemma implies that in almost everypractical application using a mesh M with n vertices and m edges, m isO(n). Thus, for example, the time complexity of the simple wave-growingexact graph isomorphism algorithm on such meshes is O(n²). The followinglemma may be stated, too. In a simple, connected, well-formedquadrilateral mesh M of genus g, with n vertices and m edges:m≦((4/3g)^(1/2)+2)n−4. The proof of this lemma follows from observation3 (or Observation 3) in that it is known that: m≦2n+4g−4. So, proofrequires that it is shown that 4g≦(4/3g)^(1/2)n or to show g<n²/12, But,this follows from the fact that M is simple and the complete graph on nvertices K_(n), has genus less than n²/12.

As method above, the problem of finding a best approximate topologicalmatch between two quad meshes has several uses in object representationand rendering applications. Unfortunately, as will be shown in thefollowing discussion, the problem of finding an optimal approximatetopological match is typically NP-hard and algorithms trying to findsuch an optimal match are not useful in practice. In order to beprecise, the approximate topological matching problem for quad meshesshould be stated more formally. Given two quadrilateral meshes, M₁ andM₂. A matching submesh S₁ of M₁, with respect to M₂, is a connected setof quads in M₁ that is mapped one-to-one to a connected set of quads inM₂ by a function μ that maps quads in S₁ to quads in M₂ such that q₁ andq₂ are adjacent in S₁ if and only in μ(q₁) and μ(q₂) are adjacent in M₂(using adjacency across edge boundaries). The approximate topologicalmatching problem is to find a matching submesh S₁ of M₁, with respect toM₂, and corresponding mapping function μ, such that S₁ has the largestnumber of quads over all such submeshes.

Unfortunately, we have the following theorem (or Theorem 5) that theapproximate topological matching problem for quad meshes in NP-hard.Proof of this theorem involves showing that this problem is NP-hard bygiving a reduction from the problem of determining if a given cubicplanar graph is Hamiltonian, which is known to be NP-complete. Supposethen, a cubic planar graph G is given as input, that is a graph G suchthat each vertex has degree 3 and which can be drawn in the planewithout crossings. An embedding of G can be produced in an O(n)×O(n)integer grid in polynomial time, where n is the number of vertices in G.Next, C may assumed to be a simple cycle with n vertices, and a mesh M₁can be constructed from C by expanding each edge of C into a connectedsequence of four quads and expanding each vertex of C according to areplacement mesh. Then, G may be converted into a second quad mesh M₂ byexpanding each edge into a sequence of four quads “glued” togetherend-to-end and expanding each vertex of G according to anotherreplacement mesh (e.g., replacement meshes in which all the possibleways that a maximum number of quads in a vertex submesh from M₁ canmatch a maximum number of quads in the vertex submesh in M₂ isconsidered). Note that since each edge in G and C is expanded into aconnected sequence of 4 quads, the quads in an edge submesh can match atmost 2 quads in a vertex submesh. Now suppose that G is Hamiltonian.That is, C is a subgraph of G. Then, there is a topological match of M₁in M₂ that pairs up all but n quads from M₁, ice., the number of matchedquads between M₁ in M₂ is 7n. Suppose, on the other hand, that there isa match of M₁ in M₂ that matches 7n quads. As we have noted above, theonly way this can occur is if the edge submeshes of M₁ match edgesubmeshes of M₂ and 3 quads in each vertex submesh of the M₁ matchinside a vertex submesh of M₂. Thus, C is a subgraph of G, e.g., G isHamiltonian.

Turning now to features or aspects of the present invention as discussedwith reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, given that the approximate topologicalmatching problem is NP-hard, it is very unlikely that there is anefficient algorithm for solving it exactly. Thus, let us discuss aheuristic approach that may be used in the approximate topologicalmatching algorithm 162 with support by anchor vertices ID algorithm 163of FIG. 1 (and steps 270, 280, 290 of method 200 of FIG. 2).

A useful starting point for our heuristic algorithm may include theidentification of good anchors that can seed the process of matchingpairs of quads in the input meshes M₁ in M₂ (e.g., the models to becompared for similar connectivity). In order to find a good set ofanchors, a few iterations of the Weisfeiler and Leman (WL) algorithm maybe applied for exact graph isomorphism (e.g., see, M. Grohe,“Isomorphism Testing for Embeddable Graphs Through Definability” foundat least in STOC '00: Proceedings of the 32^(nd) Annual ACM Symposium onTheory of Computing, pages 63-72, New York, N.Y., USA, 2000, ACM Press,which is incorporated herein by reference). As will be understood bythose skilled in the art, in the WL algorithm, each vertex is initiallycolored with a color associated with its degree (e.g., not only thedegree of each vertex may serve as the seed for colors as the edgeweights may also be chosen for use in the compressed meshes, and, inorder to do so, each edge may be labeled by the number of edgescontracted while compressing the meshes). Then, each vertex is coloredby a string of its neighbors' colors in an order that appears in thetopological embedding. In turning the cyclic ordering into a linearordering, the one that is lexicographically minimum is picked orselected. Then, these strings are allowed to be the new colors of thevertices, which can be re-normalized to be the integers from 1 to n witha simple radix sort. The following algorithm (or Algorithm 1) gives apseudo code for this procedure:

Algorithm 1: Algorithm for ColorGraph foreach u ∈ M do   tmpColor[u] =deg(u); end foreach u ∈ M do   Color[u] = ( );   foreach v ∈ neighbor(u)do     Color[u] = Color[u] + tmpColor[v];   end   Color[u] =Lexicographical minimum ordering of Color[u]; end return the set ofvertices with unique color;

Observe that the second loop in Algorithm 1 can be repeated to refinethe colors of vertices. This repetition should be done until areasonable stopping condition is reached. For example, the stoppingcondition may be used of repeating until a set upper bound, k, isreached on the number of iterations or until at least one pair ofuniquely colored edges are found, one from each mesh. If this loop isrepeated i times, the color of each vertex u will contain informationabout the vertices that are within distance i from u. The running timeof this second loop is 2m=O(m), which is O(n) in the case of planarmeshes or meshes of at most linear genus, by Observation 3 describedabove. A final step of the algorithm for identifying seeds to initiatemesh-matching growth from is that of finding corresponding anchors fromthe colored compressed meshes. In order to find such seeds, the rarest(hopefully unique) colored vertices returned from the two compressedmeshes are first matched, and then look for matching neighbors of thetwo matched vertices. Again, for most meshes, this process takes O(n)time in the worst case, by Observation 3 or Lemma 4 described above.

This WL algorithm or Algorithm 1 may also be considered looking for oridentifying unique labels as discussed with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2to identify good anchor vertices. For example, each of the vertices in amesh may be labeled using the number of edges emanating from thatvertex. Then, in a second iteration, a concatenation of the labels ofall a vertex's neighbors may be performed. Then, the smallest number (oranother value) among these possible concatenations may be chosen. If wehave a unique number among these selected smallest numbers then theprocess may continue with finding a match in the other model or mesh. Ifa match is found in the second model or mesh, one of the neighbors ofthese vertices may be chosen to create a good starting pair of verticesor anchors for later processing such as for use in the heuristicalgorithm described below (e.g., in the approximate topological matchingalgorithm).

As noted above, it is desirable to find rare or even uniquely-coloredanchors, so as to limit the number of possible candidate starting pointsfor growing matching sets of quads between the two input meshes. Thus,it makes intuitive sense that the search should concentrate onextraordinary vertices. In order to focus on the adjacencies betweenthese vertices, a compression scheme may be applied that focuses onextraordinary vertices, and, in most cases, a scheme that reduces thesize of the graph to be processed. Hence, some embodiments of theinvention utilize a skeleton graph module (e.g., element 158 of FIG. 1)or algorithm to create a compressed graph. Constructing a compressedskeleton graph inside each mesh may be preformed or thought of in thefollowing way. Imagine that a particle is shot outward in every possibledirection going out of each extraordinary vertex. These particles(separately) trace out a subgraph in each input mesh, M₁ in M₂. Theparticles are allowed to continue to move, tracing out the compressedgraph for use in color assignment, until each such particle reachesanother extraordinary vertex (which is a very common occurrence giventhe way that people build quad meshes in practice) or the particlereaches a boundary edge. In some cases, the creation of the anchorskeleton version of a compressed graph is followed by the anchor-findingprocedure, e.g., the anchor finding algorithm or similar ID process forstarting vertices is performed on this skeleton graph.

Before describing an embodiment of an approximate topological matchingalgorithm, it may be useful to describe a false start or exact/bestmatch process that is ineffective, e.g., a greedy algorithm. Forexample, given a set of anchors to begin a matching or graph comparisonprocess, perhaps the most natural heuristic algorithm for solving theapproximate topological matching problem is to start with a seed pair ofmatching quads, starting at some candidate anchors, and grow outmatching meshes from this starting point. The natural greedy algorithmbased on this approach would be to grow out the matching set of quads inwaves, adding as many quads as possible so as to satisfy the adjacencyconstraint for quads (e.g., by restricting attention to quads that areadjacent across an edge or vertex).

Unfortunately, this greedy approach suffers from a serious drawback,which is highlighted by a simple example. Suppose we are given twosimilar meshes, M₁ in M₂, such that M₂ is an exact match for M₁ exceptthat some small group of quads in M₂ is compressed into a set of edges.Suppose further that sets of matching quads are grown out in M₁ in M₂starting from some anchor point, using the greedy approach of matchingas many quads as possible with wavefront propagation. When thispropagating wavefront reaches the set of compressed quads (ornonmatching regions), it will correctly match long sets of quads on eachside of the mismatching portion, but the process will also incorrectlymatch as many quads as possible across the compressed edges as well.Unfortunately, this sets off a cascading failure, as the wavefront thatpropagated across the compressed edges will be out of phase with the(correct) sets of quads that are being matched as they go around thecompressed region. The cascade continues because the incorrectly-matchedquads are being “grown” ahead of the correctly-matching quads (e.g., thematching regions behind the mismatching region are identified falsely asalso being mismatching due to the growth or propagation of thewavefront). The correctly-matching quads never have a chance to “catchup” to this wave, however, and it can continue cascading across theentire mesh. Thus, a greedy algorithm may be used as a heuristic forsolving the approximate topological matching problem, but it often willresult in identifying large areas or regions as nonmatching thatactually have similar topological connection. Hence, most embodiments ofthe invention utilize a lazy-greedy approach for approximate topologicalmatching (e.g., comparison when two models are not identical), while thegreedy approach may be used as an initial mesh comparisonprocess/algorithm (e.g., by graph comparison engine 160 of FIG. 1 or instep 235 of the method 200 of FIG. 2 to determine whether or not twomeshes are identical).

More particularly, the following description discusses one usefullazy-greedy approach to solving the approximate topological matchingproblem for two quad meshes by using a wavefront “fire-propagation”method. A main idea behind this oxymoronic algorithm is to grow outwaves of matching quads, as in the greedy algorithm given above as afalse start but to do so in a more relaxed way that helps to avoid thecascading failures that can arise from the straightforward greedyalgorithm. Assume then that an initial coloring or other process hasbeen performed to find and/or identify a set of anchors to begin thematching process from in M₁ in M₂. The goal of the lazy-greedy algorithmis to incrementally build a mapping function, μ, that matches quads inM₁ to quads in M₂. Initially, μ maps the two anchor quads in M₁ in M₂ toeach other (defining an edge in the dual graph). As the matchingproceeds, the set of quads are tracked where the matching function μ canexpand to more quads. Let S be the set of currently matched quads, thatis, each quad q in M₁ for which a matching quad, μ(q) has beendetermined. Since the process starts matching from a seed, at eachiteration, S forms a contiguous block of quads in M₁ with acorresponding set of matching quads, μ(S) in M₂. Now, let S′ be a subsetof quads in S on the boundary of the contiguous submesh S, that is,quads that have adjacent unmatched neighbors. When growing the match ateach iteration, note that it is only necessary to consider quads thatare either vertex or edge adjacent to quads in S′ or μ(S′), since thequads that are interior to the contiguous block have no adjacentunmatched quads.

Let A be the set of unmatched quads in M₁ that are vertex or edgeadjacent to quads in S′, and let B be the set of unmatched quads in M₂that are vertex or edge adjacent to quads in S′. For each quad q in A,let M(q) be the set of quads in B that could match with q, that is, eachquad r in B such that r is adjacent to a quad μ(t) such that q isadjacent to t in the same way as r and μ(t) (i.e., across acorresponding vertex or edge adjacency). Now, create a compatibilitygraph L by defining, for each M(q), a vertex v_(i,q) for each quad inM(q). Note that same quad in B might be listed in different M(q) sets,in which case a different vertex in L may be created for each copy ofthe quad in the different M(q) sets. A vertex v_(i,q) is adjacent tovertex v_(i,s) in L if: (a) q and s are adjacent across an edge in M₁;and (b) the quads, r and t, corresponding respectively to v_(i,s) arecompatible in M₂, meaning that if μ were extended by mapping q to r ands to t, then the submesh in M₁ consisting of q and s and all theiradjacent quads in S′ would be consistent (in the topological sense) withthe submesh in M₂ consisting of r and t and all their adjacent quads inμ(S′). Note, the nodes in L have degree at most 2.

The lazy-greedy heuristic is to extend μ in each iteration by adding thematches defined by a longest path in L. Note, this is a greedy algorithmin the sense that it is augmenting the match using an optimizationcriterion that maximizes an objective function. But it is also a lazyalgorithm in that it postpones performing a lot of potentially validmatches between quads in M₁ in M₂ just because they did not belong tothe longest path in the compatibility graph L. The lazy-greedy heuristicprocess is repeated until the current version of L contains no vertices.

A benefit of the lazy-greedy approach is that it allows the approximatematching process to match the quads around a small mismatching regioneven when the mismatch is caused by a compression of quads intoindividual edges. Such a compression causes the greedy algorithm toimmediately march through these bad regions, whereas the lazy-greedyalgorithm will only venture into such regions as a last resort.

The lazy greedy algorithm or approach to approximate matching orsimilarity testing has been empirically tested on real-world quad meshesfrom a character database for an animation project. A first assertiontested was that the compressed graph generated by with the describedskeleton graph algorithm significantly compresses quad meshes in a waythat preserves essential features. The following example results wereachieved: (a) for a model of a bear character with 1070 vertices and2110 edges in the original mesh the skeleton graph had 202 vertices and393 edges for reduction or compression of 81 percent; (b) for a model ofa shirt with 3099 vertices and 6134 edges in the original mesh theskeleton graph had 518 vertices and 1015 edges for a reduction of 83percent; and (c) in a model of a body with 6976 vertices and 13903 edgesin the original mesh the skeleton graph had 2340 vertices and 4647 edgesfor a reduction of 66 percent. In these tests, the reduction percentagesor compression factors averaged around 75 percent.

A significant aspect of this compression may not be the storage savings(although the compression technique could be used for that purpose)since the regions bounded by edges of the skeleton graph are allstructured meshes. Instead, these compressed graphs in the form ofskeleton graphs are very useful to facilitate approximate matchingprocesses. With this in mind, another assertion or aspect of theinvention that was tested was that the lazy-greedy algorithm runs fastenough for most interactive modeling purposes. The running times for thematching process (or the approximate topological matching algorithm)were determined for the same models tested for compressioneffectiveness. Exemplary results include: (a) for the bear model thematching time was 0.04 seconds; (b) for the shirt model the running timefor approximate topological matching was 0.12 seconds; and (c) for thebody model the running time was 1.08 seconds. The running times forapproximate matching were found generally to be at a second or less,which is sufficient for most if not all interactive modeling purposes.Moreover, it significantly speeds up prior processes that involved humaninput of a pair of edges to use as anchors, with some suggestedembodiments using an algorithm to determine anchors for starting pointsin a matching process between two models.

Additionally, it is likely that the use of the lazy-greedy algorithmwill produce or find good approximate matches (e.g., identify largermatching regions and also, in some embodiments, identify the nonmatchingor mismatched/changed regions to facilitate manual transfer ofattributes between just those nonmatching portions of models). Intesting, it was proven that the lazy-greedy algorithm was successful inmany cases (such as can be seen by the results shown in FIGS. 3, 5A, and5B which provide an identification of nonmatching regions with largeportions of the models found to be matched such as with approximatetopological matching). In a more theoretical sense, there may be amapping between two simple, connected, well-formed quad meshes M₁ in M₂such that each connected mismatched region has boundary complexity of atmost 6. Suppose further that the medial axis of the matched region forM₁ in M₂ is connected and has a spanning three T such that each edge ofT has a cross-sectional width of at least ε>2δ. Then the lazy-greedyalgorithm succeeds in finding a match at least as good as this match. Inaddition, a subjective evaluation of the matches the algorithmsdescribed herein produced on a representative character databasedemonstrated to the inventors that the algorithms empirically found goodmatches. For example, the quality of the matches produced by thealgorithms on the bears and the body described above in the compressionresults and run times above and the body can be seen in FIGS. 3-5B.

Although the invention has been described and illustrated with a certaindegree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosurehas been made only by way of example, and that numerous changes in thecombination and arrangement of parts can be resorted to by those skilledin the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention,as hereinafter claimed.

1. A computer-based method for transferring attributes between polygonalmodels based on topological connectivity, comprising: storing a firstmodel and a second model in memory, wherein the first and second modelseach comprise a polygonal mesh and the memory further stores a set ofattributes for at least the first model; with a processor of a computer,determining a feature in each of the polygonal meshes of the first andsecond models; with the processor, comparing topological connectivity ofthe first and second models using the features as a starting location;and when the compared topological connectivity is similar or identical,transferring at least a portion of the set of attributes for the firstmodel to the second model.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprisingwith the processor, operating a compressed graph generator to processthe first and second models to generate first and second compressedgraphs comprising compressed versions of the first and second models,wherein the comparing of the topological connectivity is performed onthe first and second compressed graphs.
 3. The method of claim 2,wherein the first and second compressed graphs each comprise a number ofvertices that is less than about 50 percent of a number of vertices inthe polygonal meshes associated with the first and second models and thefeatures are a pair of the vertices.
 4. The method of claim 2, whereinthe compressed graphs comprise a skeleton graph or a motorcycle graph.5. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a pair ofvertices in the first model matching a pair of vertices in the secondmodel, wherein the pairs of vertices are used as starting locations forthe comparing of the topological connectivity of the first and secondcompressed graphs.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the determining ofthe pairs of vertices comprises labeling the vertices of first andsecond compressed graphs generated from the first and second models,selecting a uniquely labeled one of the vertices in the first compressedgraph, and finding a matching one of the labeled vertices in the secondcompressed graph.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising when thecompared topological connectivity is at least partially dissimilar,processing the first and second models to generate skeleton graphs andusing the pairs of vertices applying a lazy-greedy algorithm to performapproximate topological matching of the first and second models.
 8. Themethod of claim 7, wherein the output of the approximate topologicalmatching comprises a set of regions in the first and second models withmatching topological connectivity and a set of regions in the first andsecond models with nonmatching topological connectivity.
 9. The methodof claim 8, further comprising transferring at least a portion of theset of attributes associated with the set of matching regions of thefirst model to the second model.
 10. A computer readable medium forprocessing computer generated models, comprising: computer readableprogram code devices configured to cause a computer to effect retrievingfirst and second meshes from memory for first and second models,respectively; computer readable program code devices configured to causethe computer to effect generating compressed graphs of the first andsecond meshes; computer readable program code devices configured tocause the computer to effect identifying a pair of vertices in thecompressed graph of the first mesh that matches a pair of vertices inthe compressed graph of the second mesh; and computer readable programcode device configured to cause the computer to effect comparingtopological connectivity of the compressed graphs starting at the pairsof vertices to identify regions in the compressed graphs with matchingconnectivity.
 11. The computer readable medium of claim 10, furtherincluding computer readable program code device configured to cause thecomputer to effect transferring attributes from one of the first andsecond models to another one of the first and second models, theattributes being associated with the regions identified as having thematching connectivity.
 12. The computer readable medium of claim 10,wherein the compressed graphs comprise motorcycle graph representationsof the first and second meshes.
 13. The computer readable medium ofclaim 10, wherein the compressed graphs comprise skeleton graphrepresentations of the first and second meshes and wherein the comparingof the topological connectivity further comprises identifying regions inthe compressed graphs with dissimilarity in the topologicalconnectivity.
 14. A method for transferring attributes associated with afirst computer generated model to a second computer generated model,comprising: identifying anchors in the compressed versions of the firstand second models; determining isomorphic portions of the first andsecond models; and transferring attributes associated with theisomorphic portions of the first model to corresponding ones of theisomorphic portions of the second model.
 15. The method of claim 14,further comprising generating compressed versions of the first andsecond models, wherein the determining of the isomorphic portions isperformed on the compressed versions of the first and second models. 16.The method of claim 15, wherein the generating of the compressedversions comprises forming motorcycle graphs from polygonal meshesrepresenting the first and second models.
 17. The method of claim 16,wherein the forming of the motorcycle graphs comprises identifying eachextraordinary vertex of the polygonal meshes, starting particles movingeach edge from the identified extraordinary vertices, and stopping theparticles when two oppositely traveling of the particles meet, when oneof the particles meets a vertex previously traversed by one of theparticles, and when one of the particles meets a boundary vertex of thepolygonal mesh, and further wherein each of the motorcycle graphscomprises a set of edges traversed by the particles.
 18. The method ofclaim 15, wherein the generating of the compressed versions comprisesforming skeleton graphs from polygonal meshes representing the first andsecond models.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the forming of theskeleton graphs comprises shooting outward a particle in all possibledirections from each extraordinary vertex of the polygonal meshes totrace out a subgraph until each of the particles reaches another of theextraordinary vertices or the particles reaches a boundary edge of thepolygonal mesh.
 20. The method of claim 18, wherein the determining ofthe isomorphic portions comprises performing a lazy-greedy matchingalgorithm on the skeleton graphs from the anchors to determine theisomorphic portions and also to identify non-isomorphic portions of thefirst and second models.
 21. The method of claim 14, wherein theidentifying of the anchors comprises labeling vertices of the first andsecond models, selecting a uniquely labeled one of the vertices in thefirst model, and finding a matching one of the labeled vertices in thesecond model.